Spotify Launches in Germany

The service was previously only available in 9 countries, including France and the UK, but with Germany being the third largest music market in the world the launch is sure to be a popular one.

But why not launch sooner?

The finger points solely Germany’s ‘difficult’ royalty collection agency, GEMA, who had told Spotify back in 2010 that the service was unlikely to ever be licensed without a change in business model.

Spotify seem to have taken the slap-down to heart, ramping up promotion of their subscription services – much to the detriment of its ‘free’ users.

But it seems to be working – Spotify now boasts some 10 million users, three million of which are paying subscribers.

Spotify on Linux

There are two ways to run Spotify in Linux. The first is by installing and using the Windows client via the Wine emulation tool.

The second, and recommended, way is to download and install the Spotify for Linux Preview – a native Linux build of Spotify that supports both paid and free accounts, and integrates with Ubuntu’s Sound Menu.